Pivotal Ruckus The Medford Family Chronicles Book #3
Historical Fantasy, Fantasy Adventure, Sword and Sorcery
Az Publishing Service LLC
Sept 11, 2016
Kindle
296
Amazon
Bayton is a quiet, small farming community on the Eastern Forsaken Island only four days sail north from Paladon City. Joseph and Grace are in love and only want their lives to continue in peace. Other Bayton residents such as Captain Harvey Taylor, hope a new age of prosperity and development will generate a boom for local products. Who would ever believe that this sleepy little town out in the boonies would ever draw a huge Humanoid invasion armada? The new Baron of the Forsaken Islands, Paladin Arthur Ketra Kelvin, vows to defend his fiefdom with every drop of his blood.
The one thing that terrifies everyone more than an invasion is the fabled Purple Dragon, supposedly living on the adjoining Western Forsaken Island. No one has seen or heard anything about the Dragon for over seventy-four years. Elderly Ed Martin and his sister Jacoba Timmons remember the last time the Dragon appeared and destroyed Bayton and wonder what could possibly be done to protect everyone.
Now with Humanoid enemies approaching, the Forsaken Islands suddenly becomes the center of a Pivotal Ruckus.
Review By Sherry Perkins
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
“Great, Merciful Bloodstained Gods! I am in love with a Dragon!” — Pivotal Ruckus
In Book 3 of The Medford Family Chronicles, titled Pivotal Ruckus, John Paul Ried brings a welcomed side quest by way of a naval campaign off the Palamaran Forbidden Islands. There are dragons there, allegedly. Dragons always make for riotous fun, especially when the dragon in question is an ancient, cranky female, purple, and hasn’t made a terrifying appearance in a very long time.
This iteration of the Medford Family Chronicles introduces a few new characters while connecting them to the original protagonists, antagonists, plots and subplots of the debut novel, Reckless Ambition. It could also be considered an RPG heavy story, inclusive of a party of adventurers, an open-ended plot line, and deep, intertwining backstories.
Paladin Kelvin is trying to protect his fiefdom. Professor Enolanis grieving. Joseph and Grace are young and in love. Ed Martin and his sister, Jacoba, fear the return of the vengeful dragon. And the Palamaran civil war, replete with scads of magical beings, is about to intrude on them all.
Ried’s novels, like most in this often-caricatured genre, have a particular grammar about them which can be polarizing. Either you are OK with it or you are not. This is also true of the subject matter. The story itself is jam-packed, multi-pronged, and easy to get side-tracked within. No doubt, it would have translated much better into a comic book or graphic novel format. In fact, I would have enjoyed it more if that had been the case. Still, if you enjoy this kind of dense fantasy, this wouldn’t be an issue.
A three-and-a-half-star story about the threat of dragons, war, and the promise of hope although not necessarily how you might have expected.